In Lonesome Dove, Texas former Texas Rangers Augustus 'Gus' McCrae and Woodrow F. Call are spending their time not doing much of anything. They have something of a reunion when old friends Jake Spoon and Joshua Deets arrive. They've not seen each other for something going on 10 years. Jake has an idea: they should round up a herd of cattle and drive them north where they could make their fortune. McCrae is a bit slow to come around the idea but they're soon crossing the border rustling horses and cattle that have been stolen by a Mexican bandit. By the time they're ready to set out, Jake Spoon has had a change of heart. He's been carrying on with Lonesome Dove's only saloon girl, Lorena Wood, and he's promised to take her to San Francisco. They're traveling more or less in the same direction so they're all going to be seeing each other quite a bit. The men on the cattle drive face long days and bad weather. One of them will not survive the first river crossing.